Materials

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Radial flux motors

The latest trend in radial flux motor design is to boost power density while reducing cost. Nick Flaherty explains how it’s being done. The radial flux motor is the workhorse of e-mobility. The basic structure of a static rotor (stator) driving a moving rotor in a radial magnetic field is used in different form factors and power ranges for all kinds of...

Dossier

Performance Projects / Dynium electric tractor

Peter Donaldson relates the development of this tractor’s powertrain, which is designed to operate in confined spaces. When Dynium Robot decided to rethink the tractor to work in the confined spaces of orchards and polytunnels, the off-road robotics specialist turned to racecar engineering company Performance Projects to design the vehicle from...

PS

Race for battery breakthroughs

While lithium-ion battery chemistries continue to improve rapidly, a number of rival technologies and their developers are tantalising the EV industry with promises of much higher energy densities, but always with a caveat or two in other critical areas (writes Peter Donaldson). Some of these technologies represent improved...

In Conversation

David Richards

The technical manager at permanent magnet supplier MagDev gives Stewart Mitchell some pointers on their design and choice of materials for e-drive motors. With the ever-increasing drive for e-mobility, the development of permanent magnet electric motors and their associated power electronics is now one of the most heavily investigated areas of engineering in the...

Focus on...

Cables

There is a complexity to producing cables for EVs that some may find surprising. Rory Jackson has the details. The importance of cables for channelling power and data throughout electric and hybrid vehicles over thousands of hours cannot be overstated. However, before selecting and specifying cable requirements, the mechanical stresses they...

Dossier

Protean Electric PD18 in-wheel motor

Protean’s PD18 has a crucial advantage over other in-wheel motors – it can be retrofitted to existing vehicles. Wayne Ward reports. Pure electric vehicles are rapidly changing from being a niche purchase to one that will soon become commonplace. With the imperative that legislation places on the car...

Deep Insight

Supercapacitors

Nick Flaherty looks at the latest developments in supercapacitor technology for e-mobility systems. Batteries are the go-to technology for powering electric vehicles of all kinds, but supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors) are increasing in capacity and performance to become a viable alternative in some applications. Supercapacitor technology is already well-established in...

Digest

Xing Mobility Miss R

Modular, immersion-cooled batteries are key to this EV’s startling range of applications. Lawrence Butcher reports. Xing Mobility is a Taiwanbased EV company with a slightly unconventional approach to powertrain technology that sets it apart in an increasingly crowded market. Through its two technology demonstrator vehicles, the Miss E and the Miss R – the first of which is...

Deep Insight

Uniti One

Lawrence Butcher reports on how a Swedish start-up plans to design and manufacture a market-ready EV from the ground up. If one looks across the automotive EV market, it seems barely a week goes by without one company or another announcing that it will revolutionise the electrification of...

Dossier

Pipistrel Alpha Electro

Lawrence Butcher explains how this electric two-seater, airworthy certified aircraft was developed and how it acts as a pointer to the future. Electric aircraft are by no means a new invention: the first recorded electric powered flight was in 1973, by...